


a simple favor

by sten06



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Lena Luthor Has Friends, and really sexy ex girlfriends, i'm sure i'll write more about these 3, sam and andrea love lena and will do whatever it takes, started on tumblr now we here, this absolutely has the potential for a throuple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22857106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sten06/pseuds/sten06
Summary: post crisis, and everything is different.... but some things remain the same.with her brother back in power, lena calls on the help of some old friends.
Relationships: Lena Luthor/Andrea Rojas, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Lena Luthor
Comments: 6
Kudos: 125





	a simple favor

**Author's Note:**

> posted this on tumblr but posting it here because i know ill continue this concept as it strikes my fancy in a series of one shots. if lena can't be part of the superfriends, then dammit, she'll put together her own squad of disaster gays. and this absolutely has the potential to go in SO many directions. ohhh the sexual tension...

Lena’s office is still decorated the same way Sam remembers it – still stark white and coldly modern – but the L-Corp logo has been replaced by one much more tragic. Sam chances a glance around, absorbing the small changes around her and sighs. The flowers on Lena’s desk are dyed a deep, dark purple, and they stand out in the way that they simply don’t belong. A stain on a perfect white shirt, glaring and piercing and _wrong_. Her old desk always had a vase of beautiful white flowers, and for some reason, their absence seems the most tragic of all. 

Sam wonders if she would have noticed right away. Like if she walked into the office just as an unsuspecting guest on business, if she would see the way Lena’s legacy has been cast aside. She knows that’s absurd, because how would she even know to think about it that way? But something deep down inside grabs hold of her, this fantastic idea that maybe she just knows Lena better than anyone else. 

But in reality, this “new Earth”, because that’s a _thing_ now, started off mostly the same, until Lena called her and informed her that everything is in fact, different. And it’s all wrong. 

Of course it is.

She felt it, sort of. She felt odd, like when a laptop insists it needs an update only to restart and seem to work a little bit _worse_. It felt weird to sing Lex’s praises, but she chalked it up to being stressed and tired and altogether not that interested. But when Lena looked her in the eye and showed her the truth – the real truth, and not some version that apparently everyone believes now – well, that certainly explained something. It’s awful, too, in all the ways Lena comes out of this scenario a little more broken, a little more hopeless. Sam remembers the way she started from ashes and worked and clawed her way to something resembling respect in a mere four years. How she took her family name and resurrected it with hope and goodness, and how none of that even matters anymore. 

L-Corp is gone, because it never existed, and Lena is back in the shadows, because in this version of events, she never left. 

So yeah, everything is different, but not the fundamental stuff. Not the stuff that Sam wouldn’t mind being different. Like her hopeless feelings for Lena, and the fact that even in this timeline, they aren’t together. Or how her heart flies out of her chest anytime Lena looks at her a certain way, and how they still have this connection that seems to only get stronger and more poignant despite the distance. Sam thought for sure it would fade at least a little once she went back to Metropolis – or, you know, when the Earth literally _ended_ – but all that’s happened is everything has managed to get a little bit worse. 

She still can’t get over the idea that apparently there used to be a multiverse, and now it’s all been consolidated into one. But more than that, she marvels at the fact that regardless of worlds ending and colliding, she’s still in the same place, and hopelessly in love with Lena Luthor.

Nothing could ever just be simple, could it? 

So now she’s back in National City, because somehow, Lena’s charm and soft, emotional pleading got Sam on a plane to fly across the country and meet with her in person in order to figure “all of this” out, whatever that might mean. What she doesn’t say is it wouldn’t have taken even that much for her to fly across the country for Lena. Just a simple text – a simple request that says “I need you”, and Sam would have been there with bells on. 

She hates that after all this time, it’s still the truth, but she doesn’t say it out loud. She’s sure Lena’s at least somewhat aware of it, otherwise she wouldn’t have brought herself to call. So that’s the good part. As long as she doesn’t have to admit too much, maybe there’s still hope.

At least she’s got that.

“Got a hot date?” Sam asks pointedly, nodding in Lena’s direction after what must have been the tenth time in so many minutes that her friend has checked her watch. Correction, her _boss_ , which is still weird, and will always be weird, in some way or another.

“Hm?” Lena mumbles, absentmindedly, as she brings herself back to the conversation. She’s distracted, and she knows it, but she can’t really let Sam know the source of her discomfort because everything is about to get so much worse. She’s really done it now. There’s no way this idea of hers isn’t going to backfire, but Sam’s here, and she’s willing, and oh, what a complicated day _this_ is going to be. She frowns as Sam’s words settle. 

“Relax, I’m kidding,” Sam chuckles, shaking her head. “I know you don’t _date_.”

Lena’s frown deepens further, but before she can respond, a knock on the door causes her to actually jump.

“Easy there, killer,” Sam replies, frowning slightly as she turns around to face the door. “Are you expecting an assassination attempt today or–”

“Come in!” Lena calls out calmly, flashing Sam a stern look that immediately gets her to swallow her words. She points in her direction. “You. Be good.”

“I’m always–” Sam starts to say, but when a brunette with wide blue eyes and a pout that can be seen for miles comes strolling into the office, her jokes cease to be amusing. “Good,” she finishes quietly, as her brain still tries to process what the actual fuck is going on here.

“Drea,” Lena croons, walking around her desk with open arms. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

 _Drea? We’re back to “Drea”?_ , Sam thinks, avoiding the overly cozy introduction in front of her and focusing instead on the impressive thread count of the blanket draped over Lena’s couch. Hand stitched, she thinks, and probably more than her entire mortgage. Classic Lena. At least some things haven’t changed. 

“Lena,” Andrea breathes, just as expressive, just as relieved, and it’s enough to set Sam on fire. 

_This Earth sucks_ , Sam almost says, but instead she plasters on a smile and sucks the air through her teeth.

After an hour of staring into each other’s eyes with longing, Lena clears her throat and Sam stands up, offering a tragically unarmed hand. 

“Andrea,” she says. Short, to the point, and definitely not a nickname. 

“Samantha,” Andrea glances at Lena like she’s unsure, before a cold, professional smile takes over her face. “What a surprise.”

“Isn’t it?” Sam replies, shaking Andrea’s limp hand with far more force than necessary. She focuses her stare on Lena, pouring every single ounce of ‘what the fuck’ energy that she can summon, but Lena only stands passive. 

Samantha. No one calls her Samantha. Only… no, literally no one calls her Samantha. Unless they’re being a total asshat. So, in context, it makes sense. 

“Been a long time,” Andrea offers, taking her hand back and flexing her fingers. She avoids Sam’s eyes when she talks, because staring too long into those deep, dark eyes, and she knows what will happen. The jealousy will flare, the unnecessary anger will start to simmer. Sam Arias has always been the one that got _in_ the way, the one that Andrea has convinced herself ruined everything, even though its only partially true. And here she is, as infuriating as ever, standing there with a smug smile like she knows something Andrea doesn’t. 

“Sort of feels like just yesterday,” Sam counters, simply to argue. Lena’s eyes narrow, a very clear _“play nice”_ expression on her face, but Sam pretends she doesn’t notice. She’ll pay for it later, but that’s fine. She can’t lose the high ground. Andrea is one of those people that forces that out of her– that competitiveness, that contrary, argumentative side. It’s like she has to disagree with her just for the sake of disagreement. She could walk in the room eating crackers and Sam would swear off crackers for the rest of her life simply because of the way Andrea chewed them. They’re _that_ level of petty.

There’s a whole laundry list of reasons why, depending on who you ask, but it all boils down to one thing: Sam just really, really can’t stand Andrea Rojas.

Sure, there’s also the fact that Andrea has always been a little in love with Lena, but that’s just fucking unnecessary.

Andrea looks at Lena again, almost pleading, but she’s met with a vacant expression. It doesn’t surprise her, not really. It wouldn’t be Lena if she gave up her hand all in one play. Andrea sighs. 

“I’m really glad you both could be here,” Lena interrupts, dragging her narrowed eyes from Sam to Andrea. “Before we get started, I’m assuming we’ll all want some wine.”

“Understatement,” Sam mumbles, and Lena pretends to ignore her.

“Red, if you have it,” Andrea says, nodding in approval, as she takes a seat across the office on Lena’s couch. She certainly doesn’t hesitate to make herself at home, Sam notes. She eyes the blanket – the one with the expensive hand stitching–before moving it to the side. She smoothes the creases in her overly expensive suit pants and sits down gingerly, like the couch is going to do permanent damage. Sam rolls her eyes.

“Sam?”

“Whatever you’re having,” Sam mutters without pulling her eyes from Andrea and her annoying, smug face. The way she pinches her lips together, like a cranky librarian, but one who’s had lip injections, makes Sam want to just shake Lena and say _“Her? Really?”_

She has half a mind to ask Lena for an entirely different bottle of wine, just to be difficult– maybe a white to really stick it to Andrea, but she knows Lena will call her out. Besides, everyone knows red is superior, so white wine will just make her look pathetic. She isn’t a Chardonnay girl, never has been, despite the mom label. Lena’s expression softens at the fact that she’s being agreeable and she nods as she pours the contents of the bottle into three waiting glasses.

Everything Lena does is overly elegant, and Sam is immediately transfixed just watching her do something as simple as pour a glass of wine. The small bracelet on her wrist clinks delicately against the glass, kissing the side, and her jaw clenches slightly as she eyes the level of the liquid. She’s precise and calculated in all her movements, deliberately graceful in ways Sam can’t really articulate. It’s an even pour, no more no less, and it comes from hours in a lab pouring liquids with exact measurements. Lena doesn’t even have to try anymore, everything is just easily balanced and perfect. It’s impressive and a bit unnerving. 

Before Sam can think of a witty comment, a perfect glass of red wine is being placed in her hand. She shakes herself out of it and offers a sheepish smile.

“Thanks,” she grins, and Lena’s smile is soft and grateful. 

And just like that, it’s only the two of them in the room, and this is a normal evening, and Sam allows herself to be pulled under Lena’s spell. She doesn’t know why she’s here, not entirely, but she knows Lena needs something, and Sam is going to help her get it. It doesn’t matter what it is. She already knows her answer is yes.

“Lena, what year is this label?” Andrea drawls, swirling the liquid around her glass like some kind of connoisseur. 

Oh right, Andrea. Suddenly, Sam’s pulled back to reality, where she’s very much in the middle of a very awkward meeting, and her mind immediately goes to try to figure out how Andrea factors into all of this.

“2001,” Lena replies with a smug smile. Andrea smirks, and Sam has to resist rolling her eyes. 

“How is everything at CatCo?” Lena starts, placing her glass delicately on a coaster and crossing her legs, leaning toward Andrea in a cozy, gossipy way. “I hope they aren’t giving you a hard time.”

“Yes, I heard you’ve taken over the reigns there,” Sam interjects, a casual attempt at remaining in the conversation. One that says “I know what you’ve been up to” and less “I’m impressed”, but she allows it to fall however Andrea wants to receive it. 

“I have,” Andrea nods, taking a long sip of her wine. “Thanks to Lena, I’ve been kept busy.”

“I’m just grateful to have it in such good hands,” Lena praises, and Sam feels the wine get stuck in her throat. “I’ve been pulled in so many directions since selling it, I don’t know how I would have managed. So, truly, thank you.”

Andrea’s cheeks flush slightly at the sincerity, and Lena’s eyes do that thing where they flutter and dip as she brings her glass to her lips. Suddenly it’s a thousand degrees and Sam wants to pour the rest of her glass over Andrea’s head. But she doesn’t. She’s classy, after all. 

“I took a quiz on their website the other day,” Sam says instead, talking more to Lena than Andrea. “About what type of plant I am. It was riveting.”

“And what did you get, Venus fly trap?” Lena quips, grinning. It should hit harsher than it does, but it’s the playful version of Lena that Sam misses the most, and she can’t find it in her to be mad.

“I happen to be a delicious hibiscus, thank you very much,” Sam chuckles. “Anyway, I see CatCo headlines plastered all over the internet these days. ‘You’ll never guess what this man did on top of a skyscraper!’” she quotes, dramatically. “Traffic must be at an all time high.”

“That’s our goal.” Andrea’s eyebrows raise in an annoyed way, like this should be obvious, which _thrills_ Sam. She couldn’t care less about CatCo and their absurd online quizzes, but the fact that Andrea is turning the publication into a distraction instead of a destination is delicious.

“So what type of plant are you, Andrea?” Sam asks, fiddling with the lapel of her blazer.

“I must have missed that one,” Andrea says with an air of boredom that only Andrea could perfect. 

“Well, anyway, hard hitting journalism is overrated,” Sam concludes, raising her glass in salute. “Click bait is the new target. Congratulations on all that.”

“Mm,” Andrea twists her lips and sizes Sam up as she takes a long sip from her glass. 

Sam is relaxed and handsome, in a carefree annoying way that no one has any business being if they’re going to be _in_ business. She’s charming and irritating all at once, and Andrea knows Lena has a soft spot a mile long reserved especially for her. Not that it’s any of Andrea’s concern anymore. But it used to be, once, and it probably could be again, if Sam didn’t insist on being around _constantly_. Andrea knows she’s probably perfectly fine out of context, but she’ll never be able to get past the fact that Lena chose Sam over her. Even if her actions were justified.

Andrea studies the edge of her glass as she stews in her feelings. 

What kind of bad luck must it be to be one-upped by Sam in one universe, only to have her come back for round two in another?

“Anyway, I know you’re wondering why I asked you here,” Lena interrupts, and all the attention in the room focuses on her. “And now that you both know the truth about what happened, and this Earth, I think you’ll agree that we have to do something. I don’t care what the media says, my brother cannot be trusted. He’s no more the man of tomorrow than he was before Crisis, and I intend to find out what his endgame really is.”

“You could have said that over the phone,” Sam remarks, and Lena dismisses her with a soft chuckle.

“But then I wouldn’t be _me_ , now would I?” She grins, and Sam shrugs. “Anyway, that being said, I’ve agreed to partner with him.”

“You _what?_ ” Andrea and Sam both react, looking at each other with horrified expressions. More at the fact that their responses were perfectly choreographed and a little less at what Lena actually just said, but horror nonetheless. 

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” Andrea says, and Sam points at her and nods. 

“I have no choice. I have to be on his side, at least in the short term. I need to stay on his good side, as long as he will allow it, so I can buy time and figure out what to do next. Which is where–” she points at the two of them, “you two come in.”

“But he knows you can’t possibly trust him,” Sam argues. “So how do you know he’s going to really let you in?”

“That’s the thing with Lex,” Lena says with a long sigh. She shakes her head with a disappointed smile, the one she always gets when talking about her family. Sam’s heart sinks at the fact that Lena was cursed to get a supposed second chance with them, only to have all her old memories remain in tact. It seems particularly cruel as she looks in her eyes. “He doesn’t trust me, and I don’t trust him, and when this partnership is no longer beneficial, he will turn on me. Or, I will turn on him. Whoever gets to it first. There’s no emotional attachment, no need to worry about getting my heart broken. He’s already done that beyond repair. This is strictly a business deal so I can get what I want. All the while, we find ways to expose him.”

“This sounds very Charlie’s Angels, Lena,” Andrea smiles through heavy eyelashes. “I love it.”

“It’s going to feel a bit like that, especially at first,” Lena finishes, placing her glass down and studying her two oldest friends. It’s a gamble, she knows. She can’t really trust anyone, even the ones she’s known the longest, but she’s running out of options. Despite the chaos of crisis, and the fact that apparently a multiverse exists, somehow, she’s still here, and somehow, her two oldest friends are by her side. That’s more than she can say for a lot of people, and so if she has to work with Lex, she’d like to fall back on an alliance that doesn’t double as a minefield.

Even if she knows this one is far more dangerous.

“You can’t be serious–” Sam interrupts. “And in this scenario, Lex is Charlie?”

“For now,” Lena agrees, her face turning devious, almost sinister. It’s the face she gets when her mind is churning, when she’s ten years ahead of everyone else in the room. Sam’s chest seizes. “It won’t always be like that, though.”

“You realize what you’re asking us for, right?” Sam can’t help but push back, at least a little bit, even though she knows there’s no way she’s going to refuse. “To help you by helping Lex?”

“I do,” Lena replies, nodding once. “And you don’t have to say yes. But there’s more to it than that, and at the end of the day, it’s really all of us that you’ll be helping. So I know it isn’t the most attractive thing but–” Lena focuses her eyes intensely, like she’s looking deep into Sam’s soul. “It’s what I’m offering. I needed you both to know the truth before I move forward.”

“And we _all_ –” Andrea turns to Sam with a disappointed scowl before returning to Lena. “Have to be on the same page if this is going to work, correct?”

“You two have to work together, yes,” Lena agrees, looking between them. “Will that be a problem?”

“If it’s not for her, then it won’t be for me,” Andrea counters, her eyes narrowing. 

Oh, great, so this is all on her now, Sam thinks. Well, far be it for her to spoil a party. 

“I won’t have any problems,” Sam finishes, shrugging. If Andrea thinks she’s going to cozy up to Lena by herself, she’s got another thing coming. “I’m in.”

“You jump, I jump,” Andrea tops her with that infuriating and overly dramatic Titanic quote, and Sam almost takes back her acceptance. Titanic. Are they _kidding?_

“You don’t know what this means to me,” Lena breathes in relief, like she’s been holding her breath since they all sat down. Her eyes glimmer with anticipation, like she’s just starting a brand new project, and Sam loses all feelings of hesitation. Just like that.

Sam shakes her head as she polishes off her glass. She places it down on the table and forcefully taps her knees. “So when do we start?”

**Author's Note:**

> stennnn06 on tumblr, come rage


End file.
